Bristol City defender Tomas Kalas has admitted that he found it hard to accept Fulham’s decision to not sign him on for longer, after his major role in the promotion-clinching season last year.

Kalas made 36 appearances for the West-London outfit last season, although after picking up a hip injury in early March this year, he was limited to cameos off the bench, including a 13-minute spell against Aston Villa in the Play-off final.

Ultimately, Fulham deemed Kalas surplus to requirements ahead of their return to the Premier League, instead opting to sign the likes of Alfie Mawson and Calum Chambers.

Kalas instead headed to Bristol City for the season and he has impressed for Lee Johnson's side.

The defender has now opened up on his Fulham rejection to West London Sport.

“If they’d wanted me at Fulham, I would have stayed, but they didn’t.

Tomas Kalas in action for Fulham

“It was difficult to swallow. But obviously that’s not the end of my career, and I’d rather get promoted with a team that wants me. It would be quite nice to settle down after eight years of being abroad, but not spending longer than two years at one place.

“I obviously wanted to stay there, because that would be a step forward in my career and I would have been in a club that I’ve spent two years with.

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“But I wasn’t getting my hopes up too high because exactly the same thing happened with Middlesbrough two years before. We got promoted and I loved the club and nothing happened afterwards.

“I was so loyal to Fulham. They knew I wanted to stay and nothing happened. They spent, I don’t know how much money, on new defenders.”

Tomas Kalas of Bristol City thanks fans at the full time whistle

Fulham’s method of recruitment was certainly an aggressive one in the summer, but manager Slaviša Jokanović has struggled to find his best defence as of yet, which will have contributed to their spot in the relegation zone.

Fulham’s loss is Bristol City’s gain, however, and the Czech international has now made seven appearances for City in the Championship thus far, which has included three clean-sheets.